Japanese youngsters tweeting less about Christmas: survey

Young Japanese people are tweeting less about Christmas on Twitter, according to a recent survey by a Tokyo-based social media analytics company.

According to Hotto Link Inc., the number of Christmas-related tweets that were posted in Japanese during the first week in December 2016 decreased by about 10 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

In particular, the results of the survey suggest that there has been a notable shift amongst Japanese teenagers away from Christmas.

In the survey, Hotto Link Inc. looked at a random sample of 10 percent of all tweets written in Japanese on Twitter between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7, 2016, and counted the number of Christmas-related tweets, in comparison with the corresponding periods in 2014 and 2015.

On the other hand, the number of Halloween-related tweets posted in Japanese between Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 -- for each of the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 -- were analyzed, and the results showed there were approximately 186,600 tweets about Halloween in 2016, which is an increase of approximately 37 percent compared to 2014.

Based on the survey, Hotto Link Inc. has concluded that, "Japanese youngsters are less interested in romantic relationships, and that their interest in Christmas is waning."